Wire-fence machine.



No. 732,155. PATENTED JUNE 30, 1903. A. J. BATES & J. A. GOCKER.

WIRE FENCE MACHINE.

APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 19, 1903.

N0 MODEL. 5 sums-41mm 1.

1 6L cl y No. 732,155. PATBNTED' JUNE 30, 1903. A. J. BATES & J. A. 000mm.

WIRE FENCE MACHINE.

APPLICATION rum) JAN. 19, 1903.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2- No. 732,155. PATENTED JUNE so, 1903.

.A. J. BATES & J. A. 000mm.

WIRE FENCE MACHINE. APPLICATION rmm 1m. 19. 1903.

No. 732,155. PATBNTED JUNE 30, 1903. A. J. BATES & J. A. GOGKER.

WIRE FENCE MACHINE. urmoumn nun JAN. 19, 1903.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

N0 MODEL.

, & IIIIIIIH q 6/ 1? am, .QX MMi" No. 732,155. PATENTED JUNE 30, 1903. A. J. BATES & J. A. COOKER.

WIRE FENCE MACHINE. Arrmculoiz FILED JAN. 19, 1903.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5. 1.

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No. 732,155. I Patented June 30, 1903.

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT J. BATES AND JOHN A. COOKER, OF JOLIET, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TO THE AMERICAN STEEL & WIRE COMPANY OF NEW JERSEY, A COR- PORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

WIRE-FENCE MACHIN E.

SPECIFKGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 732,155, dated June 30, 1903.

Application filed January 19, 1903. Serial No. 139,618. (No model- To all whont it may concern: machine, and Fig. 2 is a plan View thereof.

Be it known that we, ALBERT J. BATES and Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the entire ma- JOHN A. OOCKER, both citizens of the United chine on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a States, residing at Joliet, county of Will, State sectional elevation of the take-up device, and

5 ofIllinois,have invented certain new and use- Fig. 5 is a horizontal section of the same on 5 ful Improvements in Wire-Fence Machines; the line 5 5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is an elevation and we do hereby declare the following to be of the feed-roll, and Fig. 7 is a vertical seca full, clear, and exact description of the intion of the sameon the line 7 7 of Fig. 8,which vention, such as will enable others skilled in latter is a horizontal section of the roll. Fig.

lo the art to which it appertains to make and use 9 is a plan view of the top plate of the roll, 60 the same. 7 and Figs. 10 and 11 are details of the crimper- The object of the present invention is to bar of the roll. improve the machines of the patents granted Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, the main to A. J. Bates February 23, 1897, No. 577,639, shaft to drives a counter-shaft b, which in turn 15 and October 19, 1897, No. 591,996,. for ma is geared to a short shaft 0, that is parallel chines for making wire fencing in respect of therewith and carries a pinion 5, from which the manner of and means for delivering the power is taken to operate those parts of the product of the machines from the coiling and machine to which the present invention recrimping mechanisms to the drums whereon lates. The shaft 0 also carries certain cams,

20 it is wound ready for the market. In the macranks, and eccentrics for distributing power chine of the first of these patents there is into other parts of the machine; but as they are terposed between the winding-drum and the not particularly involved in the present incoilers a series of feeding-rolls which pull the vention no description thereof is deemed fabric through the machine and keep it under necessary. Power from the shaft 0 is carried 25 the necessary tension until the completed roll to a line-shaft e, journaled lengthwise the mais wound on the winding-drum. chine above its top plate, through the train In the present improvement there is a parof gears 1 2 3 5. (Best shown in Fig. 2.) The ticular construction of feed-roll employed; shaft 6 is therefore continuously rotated and but instead of operating it intermittently, as drives the feed-roll, already referred to, by

30 before, it is continuously rotated, and there means of the bevel-wheelfand also operates is interposed between it and the coilers a certhe take-up device by the similar wheel 9, the tain take-up device producing the necessary shaft hof the feed-roll having a gear 6 meshintermittent movement of the strand-wires ing with the wheelf and the shaftj of the through the coiling and crimping mechanisms take-up device having a bevel-pinion 7c gear- 5 of the machine. Otherwise than as relatesto 'ing with the wheel g. The office of the feedthis feed-drum and take-up device the conroll is to pull the completed fencing through struction contemplated by the present inventhe machine and keep it under the proper tention is the same asin the former patents, ex siou until it is coiled up on the windingcept certain modifications in the gearing and drum, which is denoted by l in Figs. 2 and 3 4o shafting, made necessary by the above-deand is the same as in the patents abovere- 9o scribed difference in the manner of driving ferred to. The roll is therefore locatedalittle the parts, all of which will be described later to one side of the line of strand-wires as they on. Only so much of the machines of the come from the coilers, guides m and a roller former patents will therefore be illustrated n being located. and arranged to preferably 45 and described herein as is necessary to an direct the strand-wires onto the surface of 5 understanding of the new arrangements for the roll in line with the gripping devices, to handling the fencing as it comes from the be presently described. The feed-roll is coilers. These improvements are illustrated formed of a shell 0, clamped between heads in the accompanying drawings, wherein-- p and q, that are rigidly secured on the shaft 50 Figure 1 is a side elevation of the whole [1. The shell is grooved longitudinally at intervals around its periphery, and in these grooves are secu redlbars r r, of hardened steel, that are notched transversely at intervals corresponding to the spaces between the strand-wires of the fencing. Between these two fixed bars 1" r in each of the grooves of the roll there is arranged a sliding bar .9, also of hardened steel and having notches corre sponding in shape and position to those first mentioned. The fixed bars 1" 'r are just equal in length to the shell of the roll; but the sliding bars arelonger and project through open-ended slots 25 in the head-plates p and g and are held in place and kept from falling out by keepers u, that are secured at appro priate intervals along the roll. The circumference of the feed-roll is thus, in effect, provided with grooves to receive the strandwires, and the object of making the bars 3 movable is to provide grips for seizing and crimping the wires before they pass onto the winding-drum. Asthefencingpassesthrough the machine the strand-wires are guided into these grooves by the guides and roller m n, before referred to, and as they enter the notches in the fixed bars 0" r the sliding bars are operated so as to bend and crimp the wires, as best illustrated in Figs. 10 and 11. In order to effect this movement of the notched bars 8, the upper and lower ends of the roll are provided, respectively, with rollers 12 and w, which strike the ends of the bars projecting beyond the headsp and q and push them up or down, as the case may be, so as to cause their notches to register or not withthe notches of the fixed bars. The roller 10 is located at a point in the revolution of the roll near where the wires first engage the surface of the roll, and as the notches in all the bars coincide at this time, so as to form open grooves, the lower ends of the bars 8 project below the head q; but as the feed-roll rotates they strike the upper edge of the roller w and are pushed upward, so that their notches are out of registration with the notches of the fixed bars, and they are thus made to grip the wires and form crimps in them, as shown in Figs. 10 and 11. After the ends of the bars leave the roller to they slide onto a semicircular track at, which extends from the roller about one-third the way around the roll or to a point in its revolution where it is desired to release the wires. After the wires are released and leave the roll the upper ends of the bars 8 are struck by the roller 2;, which pushes the bars downward in the opposite direction, so as to cause all the notches to open, so as to receive the uncrimped ones coming from the guides m. In this way the feed-roll is not only made to take a firm hold on the wires, so as to pull the fencing from the takeup, but the strand-wires are at the same time given the crimps which it is desirable all fencing should have in order to allow for such shrinking and stretching as may be due to strains when the fences are being put up or to subsequent changes in temperature.

As before described, the feed-roll is continuously rotated, and as some of the grips always have hold of the wires that part of the fencing immediately in front of the roll must also move continuously. The fencing leaves the coilers, however, intermittently, as will be understood when it is considered that the strand-wires must stop. and remain at rest while the stays are being coiled around them, and the office of the take-up device, which will now be described, is to form a loop or bight on the fencing as it comes from the coilers, so that the extra length of fabric thus stored up between the coilers and the feedroll will be sufficient to allow the roll to keep on moving during the intervals when the coilers are at work. This take-up is best illustrated in Figs. Land 5. It consists of a roller (1', journaled at its opposite ends in bars or arms a that are pivoted at their opposite ends to some fixed part of the machine; These arms are also pi votally connected to the straps or and a of a pair of eccentrics a M, which are respectively fixed near the lower and upper ends of the take-up shaftj, before referred to.

The fencing as it passes from the coilers travels against the guide-roller a and the takeup shaft j is located about midway between this roller and another guide-roller a located at the entrance to the guides m. On its way between these points the fabric passes on one side of the roll a, and the-eccentrics a 0b are so fixed on the shaft that they project the roller across the path of the wires immediately after each operation of the coilers. The fencing and the position of the moving parts at this juncture are illustratedin Fig. 5. At this time it is necessary to move the whole fabric forward a distance equal to the space between the stays, and the revolution of the take-up shaftj is so timed with respect to the coilers that it pushes the roller against the fencing as soon as the strand-wires are 'free to be pulled through the coilers, and the eccentrics and arms a are proportioned so that this movement of the roller will pull the wires forward at a rate of speed double that of the feedroll. This causes a deflection of the fencing between the guide-rollers a and a as shown in Fig. 3, thereby storing up the surplus length until the rotation of the eccentrics pulls the roller a back again, when the slack of the fabric is taken up by the feed-roll. This return movement of the cocentrics occurs when the coilers are in operation and when, of course, the strand-wires cannot be drawn through them, and the effect is to permit the feed-roll to revolve at a continuous rate of speed, though thestrandwires and the coilers and all the other mechanism of the machine operate intermittently. The speed of the feed-rolls rotation may be regulated with respect to the action of the take-up in any way desired. As here shown, the take-up pulls the strand-wires through the coilers at twice the speed of the roll, and

the throw of the eccentrics is'proportioned so as to take up just enough of the fabric to keep the roll going during the succeeding operation of the coilers.

The invention is not limited to the construction of the take-up or the feed-roll herein illustrated, and any other construction of those devices might be employed that would do the same thing. So, also, may these devices be employed in other types of machines than that contemplated in the Bates patents, already referred to.

The coilers contemplated herein are the same as in the above patents to Bates. They are located at 01. and their pinions a are operated by reciprocating gear-racks b which may be constructed and operated in any way suitable to produce an intermittent rotation of the spindles. It is to be particularly understood, however, that the present invention is not limited to any particular construction of or mechanism for operating these coilers.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is 1. Inawire-fence machine,the combination of a continuously-operating feed-roll, intermittently-operating coilers, and a take-up located between the coilers and the roll for pulling the strand-wires through the coilers at a speed greater than required by the feed-r011.

2. In awire-fence machine, the combination of a continuously-operating feed-roll, intermittently-operating coilers, and a take-up located between the coilers and the roll forpullinga sufficient length of strand-wires through the coilers when they are at rest to supply the rotation of the feed-roll during the next operation of the coilers.

3. In a wire-fence machine, the combination of the winding-drum, a continuously-operating feed-roll interposed between the drum and the coilers, said roll being provided with grips for seizing and crimping the strandwires and a take-up located between the coilers and the feed-roll for pulling the strandwires through the coilers at a greater speed than required by the feed-roll.

4. The combination to form a strand-wirecrimping mechanism for wire-fen ce machines, of a roll provided with longitudinal notched bars, the notches thereof being alined to form peripheral grooves to receive the wires, 1ongitudinally-sliding bars between the bars aforesaid having notches corresponding to the peripheral grooves, and mechanism for operating the sliding bars so as to grip the wires in the grooves during a part of the drums rotation.

5. The combination to form a strand-wirecrimping mechanism for wire-fence machines, of a roll provided with longitudinal bars having lines of notches forming peripheral grooves to receive the Wires, longitudinallysliding bars between the bars aforesaid and having notches corresponding to the notches therein, mechanism for moving the sliding bars in one direction to make its notches correspond with those of the other bars and thereby open the grooves, and mechanism for moving the bars in the opposite direction to cause them to grip and bend the wires.

6. In a feed-roll for wire-fence machines, the combination of the shaft h, the radiallynotched heads p,q, the lon gitudinally-grooved shell 0 secured between the heads, the notched bars 1', 1', fixed in said grooves, the bars 8 sliding between the fixed bars, and means for operating the sliding bars.

7. In a feed-roll for Wire-fence machines, the combination of the shaft h, the radiallynotched heads p,q, the longitudinally-grooved shell 0 secured between the heads, the notched bars 7', o, fixed in said grooves, the bars 5 projecting beyond the heads and sliding between the fixed bars, and rollers 11,10, for operating the sliding bars. I

8. In a feed-roll for wire-fence machines, the combination of the shaft 71., the radiallynotched heads p,q, the longitudinallygrooved shell 0 secured between the heads, the notched bars 1', r, fixed in said grooves, the bars 8 projecting beyond the heads and sliding between the fixed bars, roller 20 and semicircular track so at the foot of the roll, and roller '1; at

the head of the roll for operating the sliding bars.

9. A take-up for wire-fence machines, consisting of an operating-shaftj, a roller 0.,10- cated on the line of the wire, and means connecting the shaft and the roller for projecting the roller bodily across the path of the wire.

10. A take-up for wire-fence machines, consisting of an operating-shaftj, pivoted arms a a a roller carried by said arms, and connections between the arms and the shaft, whereby the roller is projected across the path of the wire.

11. A take-up for wire-fence machines, consisting of an operating-shaftj, pivoted arms (1 a a roller carried by said arms, eccentrics a, a on the shaft, and connections a a between the eccentrics and the roller-carrying arms.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT J. BATES. JOHN A. COOKER. Witnesses:

F. D. HAYNES, F. 'l. JENKINS.

ICC 

